Need some advice and encouragement...

[DebbieB]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been on the forum for a while but I know its where I've needed to come. I am four months post-op and feel a bit frustrated. My initial weight loss was encouraging to me (lost 22 pounds from my decision date to about the 1 month post surgery mark). Since then I have teetered within a 5 pound zone and its just not budging. I have an 11 cc band, surgery date of April 22, 2010, and currently have 8.4 cc filled between 4 fills. I can eat more than half of my pre-surgery amount but I'm not stuffing my mouth just because I can either. I usually have a Fusion Juice or V8 for breakfast since I am not a real big breakfast person anyway. I have felt some restriction at times but never on a consistent basis. I've had once instance of having something come back up but it was after eating, and chewing very carefully, half of a bagel and I won't be doing that again!

My fat percentage has gone down by 4% which is good, but I just feel frustrated that I haven't continued to lose weight and I'm not sure what to do. I have not had a consistent exercise routine but I am going tomorrow morning. I know that will always help but on the food side I just don't see the restriction like I thought I would while I am at 8.44 cc in an 11 cc band!

Is there anyone out there who can give me advice or they've been in this place before? The feelings before of having my clothes be lose and being so hopeful for my future have seemed to fade away and I'm not completely down about it all, still have hope that it will work out for me, but I am frustrated.

My plan this week is to start my exercise routine and also start logging in all of my food eaten into an online journal. Is there anyone out there who has more in their band or reached a good restriction point higher up in the 8's or 9's on an 11 cc band?

I went to OCC for my first fill and then I've had my subsequent fills at a local fill center. (2 fills were blind and one was with fleuro)

Just not sure what to do... Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to Paris for my 10 year anniversary in November and I'd really like to be feeling better with my weight and maybe not be so squished in those darned airline seats!!

[Lindsay]

I think once you start food tracking, things will start to make more sense.

Report back in 1 week!

[RevyD]

Keeping track of your food and exercising every day are keys. You can do it !

Debbie

[Kristi]

DebbieB,

I think the food journal is a wonderful idea. It will help keep track of what you are really eating and pretty much make you aware of the bigger picture of your food intake. I still don't eat breads, rice, pasta, any fried foods or drink sodas. I don't even miss them.

Make sure you are drinking your 8+ glasses of water everyday.

For me, exercise was very very important, because if I didn't work out, I didn't lose one ounce. I ate 3 meals a day and for me, that was enough, for some they need to eat 4-5 small meals to keep up their metabolism.

My mom got banded in April and she eats 5 times a day and without exercise, she has still lost weight, heck she has lost about 70-75 pounds. It is weird that we are biologically very similar and yet we lose weight that differently.

Anyways, committing to an exercise plan is hard, however, after a while it will be so second nature. If you belong to a gym, hire a trainer if you can, you can also just ask the trainers questions/recommendations on the types of exercises that would benefit you. I asked initially when I first started and then ended up hiring a trainer after I felt I was ready for more push.

You can do this.

Kristi

RevyD, Debbie, Wow, oh Wow, your new picture is fabulous! Your legs look incredible in that mini.

[DebbieB]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It has reiterated what I already knew. I need to start moving and journaling on my food! My son starts school next week and I will have more time available to get to the gym and really make a committed effort to making something happen!

I have started tracking my food on sparkpeople.com and it really helps to see what's going in. I can also see when I'm not getting enough protein which is a tough area for me.

Thanks again,

Debbie

[damalove]

debbie good for you that youre taking charge

i use spark too and i love it. i love their recipe builder. its such a high quality free service.

[B2010]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It has reiterated what I already knew. I need to start moving and journaling on my food! My son starts school next week and I will have more time available to get to the gym and really make a committed effort to making something happen!

I have started tracking my food on sparkpeople.com and it really helps to see what's going in. I can also see when I'm not getting enough protein which is a tough area for me.

Thanks again,

Debbie

seriously, when I have plateaued is was ALL about my water intake. I've never been a big water drinker but I've really started guzzling it down and my weight now has been coming off consistently without any real effort otherwise. Yes, exercise is great but my biggest issue before the band was seriously just overeating. I also have an 11 cc band and am at about 8cc's myself. I felt good restriction for a few months around the 5-6cc mark...but then began plateauing again.

I have not consistently watched my water intake vs. my weight loss and the weeks where I know my water intake is low I don't lose much if not at all. But when I'm consistent about it drinking multiple bottles of water a day, I'll end up losing like 2-3 lbs a week.

Also, since being banded, I haven't eaten any real processed white sugar food. bread, tortillas, rice etc.... It just won't go down for me and I hate the feeling of having one bite of something and being totally stuffed so I just avoid it all together.